Hi guys, anyone has any good or exciting ideas for training Tai Chi Chuan martial art applications? At present, I separate each of the movement and train in a way similar to one-step sparring as practised in other external art but of course sticked to Tai Chi principles of going-in from side, not resisting, not opposing, attack the balance etc.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by chris:<B>If you want practical skill, it is important to practice "finding the bridge", i.e. something between tui shou and san shou.

</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks guys, I do that too. One party will attack with full force and another have to connect, stick and react using Tai Chi tech. Many students find it difficult to connect by not resorting to blocking with force like other external style. My requirement for them is that they must be able to adhere to the coming punch and then `lien' (stick)....as in push hands but the `bridging' part is not as easy as when it is done in push hands, lots of practice is required.

(Thanks guys, I do that too. One party will attack with full force and another have to connect, stick and react using Tai Chi tech. Many students find it difficult to connect by not resorting to blocking with force like other external style.)

I think if you look up an art called systema, they will list a number of drills in what they call soft work that should fit in very well with what your trying to do.I find some of the parallels to taiji quite remarkable considering it¡¯s a Russian art.

I am a young beginner but am learning push hands. Through my studies, I still cannot answer how great masters are able to be "soft"/"gentle" yet be able to withstand the force of winds and easily repel anything. "steel wrapped in silk". I know Tai-chi is "interna" but how do you transfer the "internal" to external. I relax my whole body and sink it in. My back is kept straight and my head is aligned. But when I push, though as gentle and effortless, it is repelled easily. I push by sinking down, this is not quite the same as getting lower. Even in single whip posture, when you strike out, how can you be as "steel wrapped in silk".

dear qqkick, we have talked about this in another forum `push hand skills', maybe you want to take a look. Steel wrapped in silk or iron wrapped in cotton basically talked about the strength and power than hide inside the soft movements. The soft movements, relaxation 'sung' and non-resisting approach are the soft part, the cotton or silk, Yin element and the strength of the proper body structure, alignment, gravity, momentum, qi and yi mind intent)are the Yang element, the iron or steel. However, you need skills to be able to unite them together and arrive at the skills of like iron wrapped in cotton. The secret lies in your ability to `fang sung' (relax). However, sung is not the normal sense of relax with colappsed posture and dim mental stage. Sung is also discussed in our earlier forum. You must understand and internalized your ability to sung before you can grasp the internal power (neili) and use it as neijin.

You are right by relaxing into your posture but you have to make sure your `proper posture' is the correct one. You don't push by softening-up your posture, you push by been sung to allow all strengths to unite and become one and manifest at the palm or finger. Another word, you are moving your whole body mass as one unit without break hence, you are very strong. To understand the wonder of iron wrapped in cotton, you must comprehand what is sung and how it relates to internal strength.